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[RC] re: ready for a 100 miler - Cindy CollinsIn Lou Hollander's book, "Endurance Riding Beginning to Winning" he said that when your horse can do a 6 hr. 50 he's ready for a 100. I respect Lou and know that people want a formula, but there just isn't one. When you say a 6 hr. 50, I say on what kind of terrain??? What temperature, what humidity? I'd be proud to finish the BigHorn 50 in 8-9 hours. I've started two horses on 100 milers. They never did LD or a 50. I never do LD with my new endurance horses. That's the distance I condition on my long rides at home, and I think the longer distance are much better for their minds. This is a personal decision and partly comes from being an "old school" endurance rider. Some day (and sometimes it feels like it's soon!) when I cannot physically ride 50 or 100 miles, I'll do LD's because any distance is better than none, but I would be appalled and insulted if those miles were called "endurance." As several people mentioned, I have many friends who could take their horses of varying breeds and easily do 25 milers without any special conditioning. These horses are trail ridden, move cattle, jump, event, etc. But, they are not endurance horses to me. You know we'll never, ever agree on all this. The board will have to sort it out and, for sure, at least half of us will be unhappy with the results. Cindy ============================================================ People in Alabama swear by manure tea as an herbal remedy for colds. ~ Lisa Redmond ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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